"Hey, come on, life is really good now. You can have hot food when you go home. Otherwise, my parents wouldn't have to go out to work in the winter. My eldest brother and I can do all that work. You can just rest at home. Rest and cook some food so that we can have a warm meal when we come back," Uncle Fang said
"I think it's okay. Why don't your parents arrange it like this in the future?" Dad Fang also said
"I think my uncle and dad are right. Grandma and grandpa, you can just rest at home in the winter. There isn't much work to do in the winter anyway," Fang Nuo also agreed.
"We'll talk about this later, let's eat first," Grandpa Fang said
After he had spoken, several people began to set the table, put the dishes on the table and prepare to eat.
Fang Nuo looked at the chicken stewed with mushrooms and it was not yet heated through, thinking that there was still a lot of cabbage just washed, otherwise he could just pour it into the pot, add some water, and cook it.
Just do it as soon as you think about it, first pour the cornmeal soup in the pot into a basin, briefly clean the pot, add some water, then pour the chicken in and cook.
Then she went to wash the old cabbage leaves she had just picked off, put them in a basin, and placed them by the fire.
Father Fang and Uncle Fang followed her around and helped wash the vegetables, causing the three of them to return home and their hands were red from the cold.
"You said you can just help wash them, why do you let Xiao Nuo wash them too?" Grandma Fang saw them warming up by the fire, looked at Xiao Nuo's red little hands, and said to her two sons.
"Didn't we just think of this?" Uncle Fang said with a smile.
Seeing that the chicken in the pot was boiling, Fang Nuo said: "It's done. Let's start dinner. Let's put some cabbage in the soup later. It will definitely be delicious."
"You can eat more later," Grandma Fang said.
Several people gathered around the fire and started eating. Everyone's chopsticks reached out to the mushrooms and chicken in the pot first.
Fang Nuo was worried that they had overlooked the cabbage mixed with sesame sauce, but he still underestimated their appetite.
Anyway, at the end of the meal, there was no soup left in the pot, no vegetables left at all, and they were all eaten cleanly.
Grandma Fang, in particular, liked the taste of sesame sauce and asked Fang Nuo to teach her how to make this dish.
After eating, Fang Nuo first went to look at the kang surface in the back room and touched it. The mud was almost dry, so it should be okay to sleep at night.
She added more firewood to the stove and continued to burn it, then went out to prepare food for Yaya.
In the evening, she cooked some porridge for Yaya. She also put an egg in it and beat it into egg drop. Boil it with a little salt and that's it.
After feeding Yaya dinner, the whole family sat by the fire and chatted.
"Dad, what do you do every day now?" Fang Nuo asked
"It's not a tiring job, it's just a waste of time. Most of it is grinding corn into flour, or clearing the snow on the road," said Father Fang.
"That's it. Then you should wear more clothes when you go out tomorrow. I have brought a set of cotton-padded clothes for each of you. I made them when I was free at home before winter. I made them according to the size. You guys will try them later. , if it’s small, I can still change it,” Fang Nuo said.
"Why are you making clothes for us? We all have to wear these clothes. Just make them for yourself," said Father Fang.
"Yaya and I both made some. Didn't I just happen to buy some defective cloth from the supply and marketing cooperative? It didn't require tickets. I bought some more at that time, and it was just right. I made one for everyone in our family. "I need some clothes," Fang Nuo said easily.
She just wanted to give them one, and she did it without much difficulty, so that they would feel better.
Of course, she did it all without much difficulty. After all, there was still room for the back.
But in this era, the cloth and cotton she used to make her clothes were scarce, and some families might not be able to buy as much as they had money and money.
"We will accept it this time. Don't do it again in the future, you know. As long as you take good care of yourself and Yaya, we can feel at ease," said Father Fang.
He felt very sorry for his daughter. Before anything happened at home, after the child's mother fell ill and passed away, there was only one child in the family, and they all loved her.
She is not allowed to do anything at home. She just needs to take care of her children and be happy every day.
But I don’t know what kind of life the child lived this year, nor how much hardship he endured, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to cook so many things, even the kang.
Every time he thought about this, his eyes would turn red, but he was afraid that the child would be worried, so he didn't dare to do this in front of her.
"I know, I think the kang still needs a kang mat. If I can go out tomorrow, I will go take a look and buy it for you if there is any.
If you can’t buy it, I’ll make one up at home and send it to you after the snow melts in spring next year,” Fang Nuo said.
"We can just make this thing ourselves. When the time comes, let your grandpa go find someone to learn from you. Don't spend that money to send it over," said Grandma Fang.
"Yes, listen to your grandma, that thing is not worth much, we can just prepare it here ourselves" Grandpa Fang also said
"Well, then let me go and take a look tomorrow," Fang Nuo said.
In fact, there is a kang mat in her space, but the kang here is larger than the others, so she has to make a new one.
She thought that since her family didn't want her to spend money to send it over, she would find a place to go into the space and quickly knit one and bring it back after she went out tomorrow.
The few of them chatted for a while, and after the kang surface was completely dried, they carried the quilts in and laid them out.
Since there was no kang mat at the bottom, they had to put down sheets first, then the mattress and clean sheets.
Today, as usual, something was placed in the middle to separate the two sides. Fang Nuo burned the kang and boiled water for washing before the family got on the kang to sleep.
That night was the most comfortable night the Fang family slept since they were sent down.
In the past winter, they would lie down under the quilt early every night, and it would take them a long time to keep warm.
But every night in the middle of the night, I would be woken up by the cold. I was still hungry, making it even harder to resist the cold.
But now with the fire kang and the new quilt Xiaonuo brought, they never woke up from the cold at night and fell asleep within a short time of getting on the kang.
A good night's dream, wake up to the next day.
This morning, Grandpa Fang and Grandma Fang went out to work with their two sons. They slept well at night and their mental state was much better during the day.
Several people got up quietly, packed up and went out to work.
Fang Nuo got up after a while, boiled water, washed up, wrapped Yaya on her back, and went out.
When she arrived at the gate of the farm, she found Wang Bin, who had just come to change shifts. She asked, "Comrade Wang Bin, I wonder if I can go out of the farm to buy something?"
"Are you going out? Are you coming back?" Wang Bin asked
"I'm coming back. I'm here to stay for five days. This is only the second day. I don't know what the rules are here, so I came here to ask you," Fang Nuo said.
"You can go out if you can, but you have to pay the fare and go out with the ox cart on the farm. When the time comes, you can come back together. You have to check when you come in," Wang Bin said
